Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on Wednesday seemingly endorsed fellow “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) radical call for “dismantling the whole system of oppression” in the United States.
“My sister @IlhanMN said it best: We must begin with dismantling the whole system of oppression wherever we find it,” Tlaib wrote on Twitter. “Pass it on.”
During a Tuesday press conference addressing “systemic racism,” Omar called for dismantling economic and political institutions beyond just law enforcement.
“The mortality rate for black Minnesotans to COVID is twice as high as it is with other races. And for me, this is very personal because I lost my own father to the coronavirus,” Omar began. “I see the pain and the havoc it is wreaking on the black community in Minneapolis.”
“We must recognize that these systems of oppression are linked,” the Minnesota Democrat continued. “As long as our economy and political systems prioritize profit without considering who is profiting, who is being shut out, we will perpetuate this inequity. So we cannot stop at the criminal justice system.”
“We must begin the work of dismantling the whole system of oppression wherever we find it,” she concluded.
Omar recently expressed support for the Minneapolis City Council voting to defund its police department.
“You can’t really reform a department that is rotten to the root. What you can do is rebuild,” she told CNN State of the Union host Jake Tapper. “This is our opportunity, you know, as a city, to come together, have the conversation of what public safety looks like, who enforces the most dangerous crimes that take place in our community.”
Minneapolis is still reeling from protests and riots that led to a police precinct building being set ablaze in response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D), though highly critical of the city’s police, has refused to join calls for its abolishment.
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